Deborah Silver & Co.


Take your backyard winter landscape from drab to fab by adding festive touches that celebrate the winter holiday season.

We’ve put together some easy and creative ideas for decorating your backyard with seasonal flair—after all, you can still enjoy the view of your backyard in the winter.






Photo courtesy of Deborah Silver & Co.|Detroit Garden Works


Trim Trees and Shrubs

Deborah Silver & Co.

    • String white or colored lights around trees and shrubs to add a bit of glitz and glamour or create a warm glow by placing white, green, red, or winter blue spotlights under bushes.


    • Add Old-World charm by hanging battery- or solar-powered lanterns on tree branches at varying heights.


    • Decorate trees with plastic/outdoor ornaments or place holiday-hued gazing globes at the foot of trees for color and sparkle.


    • Tie bows of red ribbon around tree trunks and branches or wrap ribbon around box-shaped bushes to make them look like presents.


    • Attract birds by creating bird seed ornaments:
      •


                     1. Gather pine cones that are fairly open and tie a string or thin ribbon around the base of each pine cone.
                 2. Spread peanut butter inside the pine cones and around the edges.
                 3. Roll pine cone around on a plate of birdseed until the peanut butter is covered with seeds.
                 4. Use the string to the attach the pine cones to tree branches.



      Deck the Patio & Fence
      Foegley Landscape, Inc.
        • Drape garland made out of hardy evergreens like cedar, cypress, and euonymus over patio doors and deck/fence posts. Add berries, pine cones, and twigs for texture and color.


        • Outline the perimeter of your patio or fence with festive pathway markers such as snowflakes, candy canes, stars, or giant Christmas bulbs.






          • Photo courtesy of Foegley Landscape, Inc.



          Deborah Silver & Co.
        • Make outdoor furniture part of your display by arranging string lights or garland over the backs of chairs and down the center of the table.


        • Brighten a barren patio with colorful winter containers. Use boughs of evergreens (such as red or yellowtwig dogwood, pine, and fir), poinsettias, winterberry holly, reindeer moss, fruit, hydrangea blooms, and dried eucalyptus. And of course don’t forget to add twinkle lights!





          Adorn Outdoor Structures

          Foegley Landscape, Inc.

            • Wrap the poles and beams of an arbor, pergola, or gazebo with twinkling lights to create a dazzling winter wonderland once the snow arrives.


            • Hang glittery snowflake decorations (sold at craft stores) or large Christmas balls from pergola beams or gazebo railings at varying lengths for interest and ambiance.


            • Add holiday spirit to an outdoor shed or pool house by hanging a wreath or swag on the door, filling window boxes with boughs of evergreens, pinecones, and berries, and adding lights to the roof. You can even add a wooden sign by the door that says “Santa’s Workshop.”


            • Turn your gazebo into a gift-giving showpiece by placing a decorated Christmas tree in the center.


            • Bring the indoors out by placing a wreath above an outdoor fireplace or hanging stockings made of outdoor fabric from the mantel.

Photo courtesy of Foegley Landscape, Inc.



              Dress Up Fountains, Planters & Birdbaths

              Deborah Silver & Co.

                • Add color to empty garden containers and fountains with poinsettias, evergreen boughs, pine cones, and winterberry twigs.


                • Use empty planters to display decorative present stacks: Wrap a small, medium, and large plastic container (filled with a few rocks for weight) in holiday foil gift wrap, stack the boxes in size order with the large box on the bottom, and then tie them together with ribbon.


                • Arrange glowing globes, jewel-toned gazing globes, or lighted grapevine balls (all available at home improvement stores and garden centers) in urns, tiered fountains, or birdbaths for a shimmering spectacle.